NEW DELHI: Garima Lohia is a 24-year-old girl from Bihar’s Buxar district, who secured the second rank in the prestigious civil services examination 2022 conducted by the Union Public Service Commission. Even before the results of the UPSC exam 2022 were announced last month, she was pretty confident that she would crack the coveted exam but securing the 2nd rank truly came as a reward for her hard work and the blessings of her late father. She is one of the highest scorers in the UPSC 2022.


Know More About Garima Lohia


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Born and brought up in a business family, Garima is extremely fond of listening to self-improvement podcasts. She is a Commerce graduate from Delhi’s prestigious Kirorimal College. She also secured the second spot in the UPSC CSE 2022. She cracked the prestigious civil services exam in the second attempt. Interestingly, while thousands of civil services aspirants migrate to the national capital for a better learning environment, Garima decided to prepare for the coveted exams while staying at her native place Buxar.


When Tragedy Struck The Family


Garima’s father, Manoj Kumar Lohia, passed away in 2015. The demise of her father, who was a big pillar to her, came as a huge setback for Garima and her entire family. However, with the continued support of her family members and siblings, she managed to put focus back on her studies. “My mother and family members supported me a lot throughout the journey,” Garima said in an interview.


Celebrating her success, she remembered her late father with wet eyes and revealed that she kept his photo everywhere for inspiration.


She also shared that she began seriously preparing for the coveted exam during the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. She could not clear the UPSC prelims examination in the first attempt and continued to prepare even harder for the next year’s exam. Garima said that she was sure of her success but never imagined that she would get the second rank.


Success Mantra


Sharing her success mantra with the future UPSC aspirants, Garima said that one can succeed only by self-study and staying motivated even in adverse situations. While recommending that future UPSC aspirants maintain their diligence, she suggested 8 to 9 hours of dedicated study to be able to crack the coveted exam.


Garima believes that there's no single formula for preparations as it varies from person to person. She used to study for 15 hours in a day and referred to different books and online study material for her preparation. 


WATCH Garima Lohia's Mock Interview